Kids' Rooms, the innovative e-tailer of children's furniture and accessories, has developed an advanced supply chain management system that incorporates a web booking and tracking solution. Following the roll-out of the system, which is based on NetDespatch Velocity web software, Kids' Rooms will be able to double its throughput of in-stock items in the same time it takes to process and despatch orders manually.
"This innovation has dramatically increased our shipping efficiency. It allows us to quickly book collections and print our shipping labels, as well as track consignments. Most of our products are high-value items and many require careful delivery. With Velocity we get the all-important proof of delivery to prove that the items have arrived safely and have been received by the customer. We also know when a delivery has not been possible and has, therefore, been scheduled for another time," says Christopher Laas, Director Kids' Rooms.
"We are now taking our business system to a new level and the NetDespatch web solution will be a key part of the end-to-end automation of our operation. This will revolutionise the way we do things, giving us more time to service customers - and this is particularly important as we will be launching our new Baby's Rooms brand in time for Christmas. By integrating Velocity within the system, we won't be duplicating data entry as customer and product information is entered once only via the online store and this will then enable the manifests to be built and labels generated in real time," he adds.
Kids' Rooms was introduced to the online booking and tracking system by Acclaim Parcel Express - the local depot for APC Overnight in Southampton. "Having class-leading IT and a good courier goes a long way in building a successful business. Since working with the Acclaim team we have seen the business grow solidly to the point where we currently ship around 600 to 700 consignments through the APC Overnight network a month. With the new system in place we'll have the ability to service at least double that figure," says Christopher Laas.
Kids' Rooms - www.kidsrooms.co.uk - sells high-quality children's furniture, toys and accessories, and offers personal, reliable customer service. The company works with a large number of different suppliers, many of them specialists, who all produce very high quality, lasting products. The majority of suppliers are based in the UK, and many of the products are British-made. The company also works with Fair Trade suppliers and suppliers who use ecologically friendly resources, such as replenishable wood.